


On the roof

by Lonaell



Category: Dracula & Related Fandoms, Dracula (TV 2020)
Genre: Dracula just wants a bride, Episode S01E01 The Rules of the Beast, F/M, I love Johnnys eyes, M/M, So does Mina
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:28:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22212199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lonaell/pseuds/Lonaell
Summary: Dracula wants Jonathan as his bride.Jonathan has other plans.
Relationships: Dracula/Jonathan Harker, Jonathan Harker/Mina Murray
Comments: 31
Kudos: 188





	1. The one that got away

“You could be my finest bride.”

He’s about to jump any moment now.

They’re still on the roof and the sun is still going down, ever so slowly, but not slowly enough. There’s only one thing on Jonathans mind. Mina. Minas blond strands of hair, Minas beautiful, unblemished skin, Minas smell… like soap and sunlight. It’s not the worst last thought.

Dracula must have guessed his intentions. It is most possible Johnny is going to survive the fall, but the count is not willing to risk it. Not after hundreds of years he was forced to spend alone, not after all those failed experiments.

Johnny’s kept his own free will. That makes him the most valuable thing to possess, ever. And he can’t possess something he can’t reach.

“I’ll kill the woman”, Dracula says, much less mocking than before, but all the eviler. “If you jump, Johnny.”

The words have the desired effect. Jonathan freezes. Dracula didn’t say her name, but both men know he’s talking about Mina.

He doesn’t understand, because that’s what the count planned to do all along, wasn’t it? To kill him. Definitely. And now that he is undead, now that he already notices the slightest feeling of _hunger… _It’s what he wants, too.

Because Jonathan might not be the smartest man in the world, or the best looking. But he is kind, that’s what Mina saw in him from the very beginning. He has the bluest eyes, right? The bluest and kindest eyes in the world. His life ended the moment the count snapped his neck. He’s not made to be a vampire.

“Your life has only just begun”, the count says as though he read his mind and his lips curl into a dark smile. There is a hand reaching for him, but it can't touch the light and it withdraws just after a second. Jonathan glances into the abyss right beside him. That’s really not what he wants to hear right now. And surely not from him, the man who destroyed his life and everything in it.

The sun wouldn’t be there for much longer. Rays of light create a thin line on the warm stone, a line Dracula cannot cross. And Johnathan would rather die than cross that line, or wait till it fades. Now is his only chance, and yet, he can’t. Because he’s confident the count will keep his promise to kill Mina, if he jumps.

“I don’t know what to do.”

He only realizes he said the words out loud when he hears the count answer.

“Stay.”

His lips involuntarily curl in disgust, but Dracula ignores it. He almost sounds pleading now as he speaks, or at least the most pleading he’s ever going to sound.

“Stay. I’ll take care of you. Even feed you.”

Suddenly, Jonathan thinks about the baby, the baby Dracula insisted wasn’t there. Right in front of him stands the same man, proposing eternity to him in exchange for… what? Minas safety.

In a moment as short as a blink, Jonathan knows what to do and straightens his shoulders. He looks the count firmly in the eye, all the fear abruptly overpowered with hatred, a feeling stronger than anything he’s ever experienced. (Even his love for Mina?)

Then he jumps.

He jumps, but not with the intention to kill himself. He’s going to find Mina before Dracula does. That’s all he has to do, right? He has to be faster than him. And the sun is giving him a head start.

In his fall, he sees Draculas eyes clear as day, even though he’s hiding in the shadows, and Jonathan is shocked. Because he expected anger, mostly. But the count almost seems… excited. And that’s just terrifying, isn’t it? Because his eyes seem to say “That’s my Johnny!”, ever so mockingly, almost fond.

They seem to say “I’ll find you”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I don't know if I'm going to continue this. I'm just disappointed Jonathan didn't survive episode 1.  



	2. Illusion of peace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonathan gets to the convent and meets Agatha. The peace doesn't last for long.

He doesn't know how he got to the convent.

He doesn't remember his way through the woods at all, only sensory impressions, the smell of rotten plants and moldy earth. There's something guiding him, an inner voice, throughout everything. An urge to get close, close to a place that's _warmer, thicker, sweeter_.

He's found in front of the iron gates. There's a silhouette crouching down to meet his eyes, cold fingers looking for a pulse on his much colder skin. That's all he remembers, but a thought. _An angel has found him, at last_.

Of course it wasn't an angel. Jonathan awakes alone, but soon enough meets his savior. Agatha Van Helsing. He's in and out of his mind a lot, keeps forgetting things. But he writes everything down as soon as he fully regains consciousness.

Agatha wants him to tell her everything anyway, so he does. She doesn't seem surprised at any part of it, as though she's been aware of what evil lives among them long before. What surprises him though, is her pure lack of belief in the opposite. She's a nun, she looks like a nun, but she doesn't talk like a nun at all.

They're always alone. He doesn't meet anyone other than her. Agatha visits Jonathan every day, to ask him questions. 

One time she leaves him a cup of thick, dark liquid that makes his vision turn white with hunger. They never speak about its content, never speak about its source. But Jonathan notices the small cut on her arm, securely wrapped up, even though it's barely as thin as a hair. It's hidden away under layers of dark fabric. The smell of the wound though, can't be hidden, no matter how weak it is.

He doesn't question why he slowly feels better, a little stronger, with every gulp. It's barely a hands breadth. It's warm though. Warm and thick and sweet.

Soon, he'd be strong enough to leave. Right? He'd go back to England, find Mina and marry her. He's as lovesick as he's ever been since he met her, and somehow, that's a calming thought. They'll start a new life, somewhere nobody will be able to find them.

Jonathan knows it can't last forever. But it feels like not even a week passes before his newfound peace comes to a sudden end.

His stay at the castle, his encounter with Dracula, all of it feels like a dream. The more distance he assumes between himself and the count, the more it seems like nothing of it ever happened at all.

But there's a lingering feeling in his stomach. And somehow he knows Dracula _didn't_ forget about him. In his dreams, Jonathan is haunted by dark eyes. They are dreams without a way back to the light, without a trace of warmth or a sound of earnest laughter. They are void of everything he loves.

The day comes.

Agatha bursts into the room. He's sitting on a chair beside his bed, the curtains are closed. The moment Jonathan looks up, the phantom beat of his heart stops, and it almost hurts, like ice is running through his very veins.

"Mister Harker", she says and her voice sounds serious. Urgent, even.

He stands up, fast enough to make him feel dizzy: "What's wrong?"

"A wolf." Straight to the point, as always. "It appeared in front of the gates. It's not there anymore, but..."

"But?"

"It left something."

Agathas fist is closed around something. Jonathan notices just now and he watches as she slowly opens her hand. It innocently lays there, on her milk white skin, but it's a sight of pure horror for the blue eyed man.

Because right there, in the palm of her hand, lays an all too familiar, golden strand of hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I tried to keep the parts short that are similiar to the series.  
Some Dracula action to come in the next chapter(?)  



	3. Team up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonathan and Agatha are on the move.

Jonathan stares at the strand of hair he took from Agatha with inhuman speed. It's so thin, he thinks. And it feels almost weightless. Like light that is running through his fingertips.

_Unmistakingly Minas._

It seems Dracula found a way to make him come back to the castle willingly, somewhat willingly at least, and in the process, Jonathan would save himself and damn himself both at once. The count must have read it in his blood: That he loves Minas life more than his own.

He begins to put on his shoes, the movements almost happen automatically now that he's come to a decision that is everything but.

"What do you think you're doing?", Agatha asks as soon as she realizes he's preparing to leave. Jonathan is already looking for his coat when he answers. His voice sounds flat even to his own ears: "It's over. It hasn't even begun and it's over, Agatha."

"You can't play into his hands like that."

"I don't. _You_ wrote her, _you_ ordered her to get here." It's your fault, he adds with just a gaze, that Mina is now in the hands of that beast.

As soon as the words leave his lips, he regrets them. He's not usually an angry man, so it feels foreign to be hostile like that. But Jonathan has no time to find any comforting phrases. In his mind, he's already in front of the castle doors.

"I'll come with you." Her resolute words seem to echo through his head before he fully comprehends their meaning. He wants to protest, of course, but she doesn't let him: "I can help you make sure Miss Murray will come out of this unharmed."

That makes him stop. "How?"

"You can't win if you don't know the rules. I do."

A few moments pass while Jonathan thinks.   
There's guilt shining in his eyes, a soft light that would have turned into tears with just a blink. His voice is reduced to a whisper when he speaks again.  
"I know I shouldn't agree to putting your life in danger like that. But there's something you need to understand. Something lethal. I'd do anything to save that girl. Alright? I need you to know that before you decide to come with me."

Agatha doesn't even hesitate. She nods as if she knew he'd say that. Jonathan wonders briefly how she can be so confident, when they're about to lose everything and gain almost nothing in return. Altough he's not sure if it's just a brave facade. He doesn't think so and that is, if nothing else, a cause for hope.

"Are you even fit enough to walk?"

Jonathans head snaps up at the question. His health could have been better for sure, but he is not as weak as she seemingly thinks. And there's a reason for that.

"Didn't you notice there are a lot less rats in the convent than usually?"  
He doesn't smile. It's no laughing matter. The thought alone makes his still human side curl in disgust, so he's glad she doesn't comment on it.

"There's something else", Agatha says and her eyes soften a little. "I know I said I'd save her, but what if... Mina is not alive?"

"I'd know if she were dead."

"But-"

"I'd know."

They don't speak for a while after that. It's Agatha who breaks the silence first: "We need a plan. Is there anything we can offer him in exchange for Miss Murray?"

"Yes," Jonathan doesn't even blink. "Me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the chapter is rather short. It's finals week for me, but I didn't want to just post nothing.

**Author's Note:**

> (English is not my first language, so please feel free to correct me).


End file.
